A Long Island source called in to report that GOP circles are abuzz with news of phone calls received this week from former Rep. John Sweeney, who is trying to put together a slate of New York convention delegates for presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich.

Numerous Suffolk and Nassau County electeds, donors, and former officials have received calls from Sweeney, who served in the House from 1999 to 2007, arriving just as Gingrich was ending his tenure there.

Sweeney’s efforts on behalf of Gingrich puts him at odds with most of the Republican establishment in New York, which is backing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, not to mention his former colleagues in the Pataki administration, who are very pro-Romney (Pataki’s longtime political aide, Rob Cole, worked on Romney I in 2008 and is also on this campaign).

In addition, several of Sweeney’s former congressional colleagues have been very outspoken in their opposition to Gingrich. Staten Island’s Susan Molinari, for example, appeared in an anti-Gingrich web ad. (Her beef with the former speaker has a personal twist to it).

Sweeney, who lost his seat in NY-20 an unusually dirty and bitter political battle with now-Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in 2006, has had a rough go of it since he left office. He briefly served time in 2010 after pleading guilty to a drunk driving charge. Last month, it was revealed that the former congressman hadn’t paid his property taxes for at least two years and had lost his Clifton Park home to the bank.

Although he is in the minority of the NYS GOP as a Gingrich supporter, Sweeney is not totally alone.

Buffalo businessman and 2010 GOP gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino has said he plans to be a Gingrich delegate when the Republicans gather at the convention in Tampa, Florida this August.

Republican candidates must file their list of delegates with the state Board of Elections by Feb. 21.

President Obama, who doesn’t face any opponent (that I know of) in New York’s primary, filed his petitions to get onto the April 24 ballot yesterday. Obama’s list of New York delegates headed to the Democratic convention in Charlotte, North Carolina was reported last month.

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